a person who spends some time at another person's home in some social activity, as a visit, dinner, or party.
a person who receives the hospitality of a club, a city, or the like.
a person who patronizes a hotel, restaurant, etc., for the lodging, food, or entertainment it provides.
an often well-known person invited to participate or perform in a regular program, series, etc., as a substitute for a regular member or as a special attraction.
Zoology. an inquiline.
provided for or done by a guest.
a guest towel; a guest column for a newspaper.
participating or performing as a guest.
a guest conductor.
a person who is entertained, taken out to eat, etc, and paid for by another
a person who receives hospitality at the home of another
a weekend guest
( as modifier )
the guest room
a person who receives the hospitality of a government, establishment, or organization
( as modifier )
a guest speaker
an actor, contestant, entertainer, etc, taking part as a visitor in a programme in which there are also regular participants
( as modifier )
a guest appearance
a patron of a hotel, boarding house, restaurant, etc
zoology a nontechnical name for inquiline
informal do as you like
See visitor.
First recorded before 900; Middle English gest, from Old Norse gestr; replacing Old English gi(e)st; cognate with German Gast, Gothic gasts, Latin hostis; host 1, host 2
If you invite a friend to your home, she is your guest. You might announce to your parents that you've invited seven guests for Thanksgiving. Someone who's visiting, or who's been asked to come, is a guest. If your next door neighbor comes over for lunch, she's a guest, and every one of the two hundred people you invite to a wedding is also a guest. You're often referred to as a guest when you stay at a hotel, too. The Old English root of guest is gæst, "a stranger" or "an accidental guest."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Don’t miss: ‘This guy has no manners’: My Airbnb guest requested I buy bacon and beer.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 22, 2026
Six months on, they are hosting their sixth dinner - and I am the tenth guest at the table.
From BBC • Jun. 21, 2026
It is not hyperbole to say that Ford turns in the performance of his career, assisted by Michael J. Fox’s guest star appearances and the sensitive work of his castmates.
From Salon • Jun. 20, 2026
Then I turned into basically a weekly guest on the show.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2026
To Mikhail, she said, “Take the three of them to the guest suites. They can stay next to that idiot bogatyr who thinks I’m going to marry him.”
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
